French Open Memories, #10: Yannick Noah d. Mats Wilander, 1983 final

There's nothing like Paris in the springtime, they say. As these 10 epics—the 10 most memorable French Open matches of the Open Era—show, there's also nothing quite as stirring or sensation as tennis in Paris at this time of year.

There have been better contests, and much closer contests, in Paris over the course of the Open era. But the 1983 French Open men’s final still takes the emotional cake.

If you’re a fan of a certain age, you may have known people who kept a videotape of the 1983 men’s final at Roland Garros lying around, for those moments when they needed cheering up. If you were a French tennis player of a certain age, you probably knew dozens of your fellow countrymen and women who were inspired to pick up a racquet after seeing Noah complete his theatrical triumph. A 4-year-old Amelie Mauresmo knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life when she was finished watching this match.

Few expected Noah’s victory at the time. The last time a Frenchman had won at Roland Garros was 1946, and the 23-year-old from Cameroon was only seeded sixth, behind such legendary figures as Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and the 18-year-old Wilander, who was the defending champion. Noah was an established Top 10 player, but his volatile, acrobatic talent had never been reliable enough to take him past the quarterfinals at a major. “Some days he played as if he were the best in the world,” Jane Gross wrote of Noah in the New York Times, “other days it looked as if he would be happier sitting in a café reading his favorite romantic philosophy.”

That spring, though, Noah had found himself in a world-beating mood. Before arriving in Paris, he won the German Open, and ended a 20-match win streak by Wilander. Noah had also made a subtle but decisive change to his mindset.

“I worked hard,” Noah said of his preparation in 1983, “but I did that before. This time, I practiced to win. I thought about winning, not only a few matches, but the tournament. That was the difference. The difference was in my head. I was ready to fight to win the tournament.”

WATCH—Highlights from Noah's win over Wilander in 1983 French Open final:

With that new attitude, Noah tore through the draw with the loss of just one set. While he knew his way around a red-clay court, he wasn’t a classic dirt-baller. Noah was too athletic, and too much of a risk-taker and a showman, to do anything but attack. In the quarterfinals, he pulled off a rare victory over the third-seeded Lendl, in an even rarer 6-0 fourth set. In the semis, Noah recorded two more love sets, over his countryman Christophe Roger-Vasselin.

Still, Noah remained the underdog against Wilander, who was 13-0 at Roland Garros, and who had won his own love set over John McEnroe in the quarterfinals. But instead of doing what he had done so well in those 13 wins—counterpunch, defend, rifle pinpoint passing shots—Wilander chose to race Noah to the net. While Wilander could match the Frenchman’s tactics, he couldn’t match his emotion; with fists pumping and dreadlocks flying, Noah whipped the home crowd into a frenzy. Only when Noah served for the match at 6-5 in the third did Wilander find his service-return range. But fighting off cramps and nerves, Noah bounced back to win the tiebreaker going away.

“I was nervous,” Noah admitted. “I was so close to winning. I knew that if I lost that set, it would maybe be something else.”

When Wilander’s final return sailed long, Noah dropped to his knees, reached for the sky, and ended up in his father Zacharie’s arms. It was a reunion long in the making. Ten years earlier in Cameroon, a young and spindly Yannick had caught the eye of a visiting Arthur Ashe. Soon after, he left his home to train in France.

“For my parents it was very hard,” Noah said after the match, “maybe harder than for me. I wanted to be a tennis player, and now I made it. I’m happy to show them that all the help they gave me did pay off.”

Thirty-five years later, Noah’s win still stands above all others in recent French tennis history. Some matches and moments are unrepeatable. They can only be watched, on YouTube or on our old videotapes, over and over again.

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